Donald Trump's Debate Style Is the Last Thing You Should Care About (But It Was Bad)

On more than one occasion, a select crew of GQ's more vocal social media commenters has asked this publication to "stick to fashion" instead of covering controversial subjects like the election, or gun violence, or police brutality. So since we've already gone through the litany of reasons why Donald Trump is unfit to serve as president of the United States, we're going to stick to fashion and criticize the man for what he wore.

If you're a political figure, a black suit is appropriate for exactly two occasions: a wake or a formal event. All-black tailoring works for rock stars and slender Hedi Slimane devotees, but on the back of the man who wants to run the world, it looks grim, pessimistic, and funereal. There's a reason every politician out there subscribes to the same bland deep navy blue suit: it's about as inoffensive, sartorially speaking, as clothes can get.

None of this is helped by the fact that the suit didn't fit him properly. None of his suits do, but having to stare at this one for an hour and a half only illuminated its various challenges. It's oversized, and not in an off-the-fall-2016-runways way, but in a manner that suggests he's either not listening to his tailor—or that he doesn't employ one. You know what doesn't look presidential? A man who claims to have pulled in $694 million last year and yet is unwilling to pay the $25 it costs to get a jacket taken in, or to heed the counsel of someone who could sell him a 44 long instead of the 48 regular he's drowning in.

If you're trying to make America great again or whatever, why wear French cuffs? The only purpose of a French cuff at this point is to show off cuff links, and the ones Drump wore on Monday were excessive and distracting—exactly the kind of frippery our nation doesn't have time for.

And then there's the tie. On the plus side, at least it wasn't quite as long as some of his previous neckwear efforts, but it was still far too long by any reasonable standard of haberdashery. The dimple in it was also weak, and a man who can't handle one of the simplest operations in the menswear toolbox has no business near the nuclear codes. Because, as we've said before, it's not like it's hard. (Although perhaps the man is at a slight disadvantage here. As our friends at Vanity Fair have noted time and again, his hands are unusually small.)

So there you have it. We have applied the same high standard to the Republican nominee for president that we do to every other man who comes through these digital and physical pages, and (yet again) he has been found wanting.

Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement (effective 1/4/2014) and Privacy Policy (effective 1/4/2014). GQ may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with prior written permission of Condé Nast.